Report from SIIM: Vendors rise to challenges for data exchange, acquisition, and display

Vendors this week at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine meeting in Charlotte, NC, are offering a grab bag of technologies to meet challenges posed by the nature of medical imaging.

As the most data-intensive of any medical specialty, radiology presents special difficulties to the exchange of patient information. The multiple modalities in medical imaging, each with its own needs and operating parameters, have slowed not only the sharing of data but their gathering and onscreen interpretation.

In an application of its open desktop technology, GE Healthcare is demonstrating how its Xeleris Suite for Nuclear Medicine can communicate nuclear medicine data across the healthcare enterprise. The integration makes data acquired on Xeleris available through a single database to anyone on GE's Centricity PACS network for patient selection, reporting, and archiving of multimodality studies, including those conducted using nuclear medicine.

Its integration shows that best-of-breed applications can be incorporated into its Centricity PACS, offering short- and long-term benefits, said Ram Krishnan, general manager of GE Healthcare IT.

"Open desktop integration responds to our customers' needs at both the clinical and administrative levels," Krishnan said. "It delivers new functionality designed to improve productivity while simultaneously extending the life of existing IT assets."

Canon USA is featuring digital radiography products with a focus on the versatility and flexibility of portable and general DR systems, exemplified by the new CXDI-40G Compact DR System. This latest addition to the Canon DR portfolio offers a 17 x 17-inch imaging area and delivers high-resolution radiological images. The detector can be retrofitted into a range of radiography devices, including upright stands, radiography/fluoroscopy tables, and bucky units. It can also be configured with an optional preview monitor.

A new display system featuring a high-brightness LCD panel debuted as a commercial product in the Barco booth. Newly cleared by the FDA, the Nio Color 3MP offers the benefits that come from displays that can present multimodality studies, according to the company. Its high-brightness LCD panel and color accuracy suit the display monitor to modalities that use color, such as PET, functional MRI, perfusion, spectroscopy, and computer-aided detection. A built-in system corrects display elements to ensure image uniformity, spreading luminance evenly over the full screen surface, thereby enhancing diagnostic precision.